Martin Koby - April 20, 1999

Grandfather

And he sold his--all his land that he have. And he sold the--didn't sell the house, that was for the last thing you know, when...

This is the--in the '20s.

In, in the '20s, yeah.

Uh-huh.

And he went to Israel, to Palestine and he bought land and he was going to bring his family there. Okay?

Okay.

And he went and bought it and he came back to take his family. And he started the proceedings there with--the Polish government says, sorry. And at the time, the Depression happened.

Yeah, the Depression started. I was thinking, well--what...

The Depression...

Well, the Polish government said what?

You have to pay so much taxes...

Ah.

...before you can leave.

So he couldn't leave.

No, he couldn't leave.

??? things, oh.

He was very angry, he was very upset. He was ashamed, from what I gathered together, you know. She didn't say that, they didn't--never said that you know, that way. He committed suicide.

Oh, God.

And what happened, he left them in poverty.

Hm.

Because of the--the--the--the--that's what happened.

And was, was your mother the, the oldest in her family?

No. She had a uh--and old--she had two older sisters. My mother was the middle one. And I think my mother was the, the ambitious one and the intelligent one, enough that he entrusted her part of his business you know, to run it.

Hm. So she knew all about the business?

So she must have known something about the business.

Yeah.

And she knew you know, that--you know, how things worked and where you go and who you do it and who you meet and stuff like that.

What a sad story that is.

And then she ended up broke. But she--yeah, but your father married me anyway, with no dowry.